


Patterns of Evasion

by buckydraketrash



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bucky and Nat train a baby spy, Canon? What Canon?, F/M, Field Training, Gen, Slow Burn, a very slow burn, bucky is a cocky flirt, throw the whole canon away
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-05
Updated: 2018-08-07
Packaged: 2019-06-22 03:45:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15573021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buckydraketrash/pseuds/buckydraketrash
Summary: Bucky and Nat take a baby Avenger under their wings.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> [ just a feel good fic for my trash man bucky and his spider mom nat. like infinity war didn't even happen lol ]

She was being followed. She knew it. They knew that she knew it. But it didn’t stop them. 

Just to clarify, she wasn’t in any danger. This was more like a challenge, "Umm! Maybe more like an interview."

There was the red-head, petite, quick on her feet, seemingly fluid and catlike in her movements, and elusive to the point of being invisible to a normal person. Good thing she wasn’t so normal. She smiled at her level of comfort with that truth. 

And then there was the predator. There was no other word she could assign to him, she thought as she moved through the streets almost leisurely, not giving away her urgency to win this mind game. He reminded her of a jaguar; silent yet menacing presence, eyes laser focused, and an air of danger surrounding him.

She didn’t know whether the adrenaline rush was from the chase itself, or the fact that the fucking Black Widow and Winter Soldier were the ones doing the chasing. She noticed a shift in the walking patterns of the pedestrians around her, almost like a ripple. It notified her that the Widow, who had been walking exactly behind her, had stopped in her tracks. And the fact that there were no hushed glances towards a particularly menacing looking man on the streets indicated that the Winder Soldier had resumed his prowl from the top of the buildings that lined the street. 

She grinned, seeing her chance, and entered a busy restaurant, moving like she had to rush to the bathroom, and entering the hallway towards the back exit instead. As she opened the door, she saw two options in front of her, the exit to another street, or a backdoor to another establishment. Her mind raced with the possible outcomes for both options, concluding that they would expect her to take the second door in order to outsmart them, so she hurried along the alley way to step into the street. As she turned the corner, she heard the door open and a soft word in Russian that sounded like a curse. She couldn’t help but smile. 

Now it was time to lose the jaguar hunting her from the heights. She knew he had to have come down to the streets since he had been on the opposite corner when she had entered the restaurant. So, she had hoped for cues from the people on the streets, after all, a man of the Winter Soldier’s stature always drew some attention, whether he was in his gear or not. But no such muffled whispers or gasps reached her ears. No glance patterns, or shift in the traffic patterns, no slowing down of the cars. She was perplexed, to say the least. 

She looked back, to check whether they had maybe given up? 

That, was silly of her. 

She saw a group of teenage girls walking by a coffee shop giggling, normal. A couple wearing matching NY shirts and hats looking at some jewelry in a display case, normal. Touristy, but entirely normal. And the usual rush of pedestrians walking in a hurry to god knows where, normal. 

Where had they gone? 

Had they flipped the chase around? It made sense, to be tested on her evasiveness, and her ability to track. No, she had never boasted to be a tracker, just an exceptionally perceptive reader of behavior patterns. 

She scanned the streets again, deciding to go along with this sudden change in pace, and found a couple of things missing. Well, actually, the couple was missing. Her eyes widened and she picked up her pace in the opposite direction, not even wasting any time to scold herself. She let out her hair, ditched her jacket, she liked that jacket, and was about to enter a coffee shop to quickly ditch her pants, since she had happened to wear a tunic that could double as a dress. 

A loud thunk of her own body hitting what seemed like a soft cement wall stopped her in her tracks. Her hands had decided to place themselves against a muscular chest, some of which was peeking out from under the v neck of a I Love NY t-shirt. She knew when she was cornered, defeated, and she accepted it this time. She looked up at him, the jaguar, biting her lower lip in thought, and asked, “When?” He just smirked and raised his eyebrows, as if challenging her to figure it out herself. 

She already knew how they had her, she wanted to know when they had her? What was the exact moment her calculations had gone askew? 

She heard a raspy little huff that could maybe qualify as a laugh, if you knew Natasha, from behind her. She rolled her eyes and turned around, not really in the mood for either the cryptic wisdom or the sass that usually came from Agent Romanov, and looked at her superior expectantly. The Black Widow tsked, and smiled that predatory smile that could send hardened criminals running, “From the very start my dear!” 

She huffed out in frustration, “Oh come on!” and Bucky threw an arm around her shoulders, almost annoyingly leaning his weight on her, and grins at Natasha, “She did look like she was trying this time though!” She rolled her eyes, and muttered, “I hate you guys” under her breath, making the seasoned spies laugh even harder. 

The three of them made their way back to the Avengers Complex, not before grabbing some sour straws for Peter and Steve.


	2. Strategizing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the game goes on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> um, where am i going with this? all i know is that i need fluff.

“So um, Miss Brar, um..” Peter started out of nowhere, while she was busy going over her personal notes she’d jot down after her training with Bucky and Natasha, in the common area. She had to wince at the “Miss”. She quickly looked up at him, trying to keep the annoyance out of her tone, “Peter, dude, I’m only nine years older than you, just call me Damon like everyone else!” She emphasized the last point with a wild gesture of her hands pointing at the entire common area, as if every single Avenger was in the room with them right now. 

Peter looked like he was mulling it over for a minute, which by the way, this kid seemed to do a lot, except when he actually did need to think through his decisions. She looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to confirm her request, and he quickly nodded once he caught up to her facial expressions. He continued, “Um, I just wanted to..uh thank you for the sour straws!” He gave her a boy scout smile, and fuck she could swear right then and there that the whole team would die for this kid. 

“No problem bud!” she said with a slight shake of her head, and went back to obsessing over her decisions in the field training earlier that day. 

When her obvious mistake jumped out her, she groaned and mockingly hit her head with her notebook. Right at that moment, 50% of the reason for her current torment walked into the common area, strutting in with that smug face currently stuffed with M’n’Ms. Seeing her sitting there dejectedly, he obviously bee-lined for her. 

Damon looked her him pointedly, daring him to say some shit. He obviously took that as encouragement to torment his pupil even more. He sauntered over to her, finishing up the candy in his mouth. “How’s it going?” he asked casually, leaning against the counter, dangerously close to her, dangerously close to pushing her off the counter. He knew what he was doing. 

She tightened her muscles, and braced herself against the ledge, and looked at him as if she was unbothered entirely. “Oh! you know, just strategizing for the next session” she said confidently, he didn’t have to know that she was faking it. 

He obviously knew she was faking it, and decided to press on. “Oh, really? Well hopefully that means I’ll actually get a challenging chase this time around!” He inched closer, making her inch back slightly. He then added with a smirk, “The last three days have been such an easy hunt.” 

Her eyes widened and she almost let her nickname for him during the training slip through her lips. _He can’t possibly know. He’s just fucking with me._

Damon cleared her throat and gripped the counter ledge harder, “Well it's not like the two seasoned spies against one rookie are fair odds,” she raised an eyebrow at him, a smile forming at the corner of her lips, “but what, Mr. Barnes, would be my trophy, if I won this hunt of yours?” 

He looked a little taken aback, he had not been called that, ever! Why did he like it?

Damon on the other hand was about to a victory dance at his moment of dumbfoundedness. She instead, opted for a grin, and pushed forward towards him, now establishing her dominance, uh..over the counter? She decided to continue with the bravado, and patted him on the chest as she gracefully came off the counter, “I’ll give you some time to think!” 

And without looking back at him, she walked off towards her room. Leaving a confused yet aroused Bucky, and a very bewildered Peter in the common area behind her.


	3. Sore and Slippery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> dehydration is a tricksy bitch

She woke up that morning almost besides herself with excitement. She couldn’t wait to see if Bucky had recovered from her little fake it till you make it act of bravado, and if so, what had he got in store for her! She quickly got ready, throwing on a pair of maroon leggings, a mustard crop top and a pair of black Nikes. She grabbed her baggy denim jacket just in case, and headed out to the outdoors training area with an excited smile on her face. 

She got to the tracks where Bucky and Nat usually meet her before heading out their own ways to the agreed upon starting point for the evasion tactics training exercise in the city, but found Sam Wilson standing there with his hands crossed in front of him military style. She frowned a little, wondering what was up? 

Before her brain could start calculating possible scenarios that end in this outcome, Sam’s voice boomed louder than her thoughts. “Damon! I ain’t got all day, I need those feet running!” She hustled and quickly stood in attention in front of Sam, hands in front of her, jacket dropped to the ground. Sam nodded at her stance, and then told her to relax. “Today you’re gonna be working with me, as Nat had to work with Banner on something and Bucky had some pre-scheduled research thing with Princess Shuri.” He nodded in conclusion, notifying the rookie that that was all she was going to get in terms of details. 

Sam usually ran conditioning training, occasionally tracking sessions as well. Damon was glad she was wearing semi-athletic clothes today, because she knew if she had asked Sam for some time to go back and change, he would have made her do 100 knuckle push-ups and told her that when duty calls, your outfit doesn’t matter. And she would have bit her lip before saying “but what about your wings, Falcon?” And that would have ended in more misery for her. 

You don’t fuck with Sam Wilson when he’s your trainer. Other times it’s fine. 

She wondered if anyone else was going to join them, but she figured it made sense to train the few non-enhanced people together, and currently it was just her and Sam on the campus that held that status, the other being out for various reasons. 

It had been two and a half hours, and she was so close to the sweet embrace of death. Sweat was pooled at her neck, her armpits, some of her strands had found their way out of the tight braid she had started with and now clung to her face, which was flushed as fuck by the way. She was pretty sure she also had ass sweat, but she wasn’t about to check, and honestly couldn’t give a shit. The sun was beating down on them, but Sam fucking Wilson didn’t even seem bothered. She would kill for that kind of stamina, but apparently it meant her own death. 

As she was doing her last round of army crawls with a fake sniper rifle cradled in her arms, she faintly heard a few voices cheering for her. One was definitely Peter, but there was another. And then she heard Sam’s barking orders, and the voices hushed. It would have made her laugh if she wasn’t struggling for every breath right now. 

She made the final approach towards the finish line and she stood up with the fake rifle in her hands, going for victorious only if her step hadn’t faltered. Her vision was blurred by her own sweat, and the heat and dehydration weren’t doing her any favors, but she quickly used the rifle as support, just as a hand gripped her waist to stabilize her. 

His hand touched her bare skin, and it send a shiver down her skin that had nothing to do with the cooling sweat, she was 98% sure. The metal hand turned her around to face him, and his piercing blue eyes inquired silently. She looked up, brave face on once again, and straightened up her posture defiantly. Meaning to say “I’m good” her blood deprived brain instead signaled her mouth to say, “Just like a jaguar, silent and ready to pounce.” His eyebrows shot up at the unexpected thank you, and he rightfully asked “What?” 

Damon realized her slip of the tongue a little too late, but gracefully decided to handle the situation by saying “What?” and shuffled out of his grip to go chug some water and maybe drown in it too. 

Sam noticed this entire interaction from the distance, not missing one single detail and already forming up ways to torture Bucky about it later, handed Damon the water bottle and clapped her on her shoulder in a manner of encouragement, while Peter quickly brought her towels. She mumbled her thank yous to both of them, and without looking back at Bucky, she rushed off to her room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> gigglesnort


	4. Day Off

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a jaguar does what a jaguar knows best - jaguaring.

The sun was shining, warm and bright, and it peeked through the cracks uncovered by her light blocking curtains. Damon could swear she even heard a bird or two chirping as she rubbed your eyes sleepily, savoring the fact that this was Friday morning, and she had no training today. Which was good, because every muscle in her body was screaming at her right now, sore beyond even her own imagination. But it was a good kind of sore, the kind that came after weightlifting with Captain America. She missed that. Not really though. 

She groaned as she finally stumbled out of bed, her abs and legs on fire, her elbows scrapped open from yesterday’s crawling adventures and now stiff. She’d handle them after the shower, she’d handle everything after the shower. Because no, she hadn’t forgotten her embarrassing slip in front of the Winter McFreaking Soldier about his super-secret nickname that you had created for him. “Ugh! Stop thinking about it!!” she yelled at the mirror, as she looked for any other bruises on her body. The rifle had left a neat little purple kiss on both her forearms, her knuckles were kind of raw from the push-ups, and but the main damage had happened to the elbows. 

She huffed a little sigh out before jumping in the shower and quickly getting that out of the way. After drying off, she put on a sports bra and a pair of undies that made her butt look delicious. What? She could admire the fruits of her squats and dead-lifts. She could definitely admire the muscles that rippled through her entire body, she looked like a fighter, and she was damn proud of that.

Before she had been recruited, she was purely an instinctual survivor, solely relying on her ability and the lack of superior intelligence of people around her. It didn’t mean she didn’t have her fare share of physical bullying, too close brushes with sexual harassers, but she had managed to chalk that up as parts of a normal wierdo’s life and stifled the trauma that came along with it. But what all that meant was that she had been physically weak. She couldn’t throw a proper punch, couldn’t run like hell if she needed to, and upper body strength had been a foreign phenomenon to her. 

But now, now she was on her way to becoming a bonafide bad-ass. A smile crept its way up to her somehow still tired face, and brightened it up a little bit. 

She mused about how she was going to spend this well-deserved day off, fully aware that she only had a few more months of scheduled days off, before her life became entirely devoted to protecting, ney, avenging the Earth. She let out a snort at that, and pulled out a matching set of a rose pink hooded cropped t- shirt and mid-length bodycon skirt.  
Settling for a lose braid for her hair, she walked out of her room feeling a little bit more confident about facing Bucky, if he was even there.

As she walked out into the common area to grab something to eat, she found herself getting swooped up into a bear hug by God of Thunder, and once again she was reminded that living among supers did something to her perceptive powers. She needed to train harder. But for now, she settled on following through with the hug, and wrapped her comparatively tiny arms around the literal God’s torso. 

“Little Pixie!” Thor exclaimed, using his nickname for her, which of course pointed out her small stature, especially when compared to him. She faked a groan, trying to keep up their routine, “I’ve told you I don’t like that name!” she said scrunching up her nose, which only made his smile bigger. “But it suits you Little Pixie! You are so tiny, and little, and magical, it works!” He said convincingly, and she just rolled her eyes and retorted back, “Yeah? Well how would you feel if I called you a giant puppy?” 

At that Thor pretended to think for a minute, as if considering the question seriously, and fought back with “Why! I would be honored, puppies are majectic, loyal…” 

“And don’t forget cute!” came Peter’s voice from the other end of the bustling room, which Thor acknowledged with a wink at him, “thank you Spider-Child! Yes, and extremely cute!” He added wiggling his eyebrows.

Damon had to hold back her laugh at that and she opted for rolling her eyes instead and walking away with a “there’s no winning with you!” That elicited a satisfied laugh from him. She waved her hellos to Banner and Tony, who were sitting together talking about a new program they were both developing for predicting inhuman activity much more efficiently. She filled up her bowl of cereal and scooted past Cap and Sam, both talking in hushed whispers which was odd as shit, but whatever, she was the rookie, she didn’t yet have the right to all the information. 

She continued walking past Peter who was facetiming his friend Ned, and gave him a silent nod, and finally found a nook near the glass wall that looked down at the entire complex and the edge of the city. The hustle and bustle of her colleagues, friends, and the quiet of the outdoors meeting like one in this spot, she quiet liked this juxtaposition.  
And once again, her musings left her unaware enough for Bucky to sneak into her space and sit across from her as if that was the plan all along. She at least had the grace to not blatantly look surprised, but her cheeks had their own agenda of getting flushed at the prospect of the conversation that was most likely going to happen. 

Bucky looked at her with that intensely piercing gaze of his, like trying to decipher her entire existence with his eyes. And Damon was trying her best to hide her face behind her cereal bowl. A corner of his mouth turned up at that, and he innocently asked, “Did I catch you by surprise, rookie?” 

She swore her eyes could burn a hole in his head the way she looked up at him. He knew she was embarrassed, and he still chose to mess with her. Fine, two can play this game. She cocked her head to the side, putting aside the now almost empty cereal bowl and gave her sweetest smile back, “No Mr. Barnes, I’m just enjoying the fact that everyone is here today. You just happened to be the last one I saw in the room.” 

At that Bucky’s eyes glinted, despite the little hitch in his breath that he hoped had gotten unnoticed by the perceptive recruit. He had been anticipating for her to say something exactly like that. He mimicked her gestures, their eyes now locked, “Well, I wouldn’t be a great predator if I could be seen before it was the right moment to…pounce.” 

The shit eating grin on his face when her mouth fell open infuriated her even more. 

Before she could conjure up a worthy retort, she noticed something in her periphery, where Sam and Cap had been sitting. There was a shift in voice patterns, an almost anticipatory silence on that side of the room, as if people were holding their breath. She glanced that way, only to find both Cap and Sam on their phones. Again, odd as shit. But she directed her gaze back at him. 

“It’s very bold of you to assume, Mr. Barnes,” she repeated her new moniker for him and relished in the little skip in his breathing pattern, and continued, “that I’d be that easy of a prey.” She emphasized her point while crossing her arms in front of her. 

He leaned back a little, and gave her a once over, making no pretense of hiding the fact that he was doing so, dick, “Oh I never said you’d be easy prey, rookie, and in fact I’m counting on you to make it as hard for me as possible. In fact, that’s what makes this,” he gestured between the two of them, “so much fun.” He finished with a wink, which left her blushing like a teenager, and he just walked off without looking back at her. 

And if Damon had been paying attention to her surroundings at that moment, instead of hiding her flushed cheeks, she would have noticed an impressed Sam Wilson, and a bewildered but amused Steve Rogers looking back and forth between her and Bucky like overly invested audience watching a tennis match.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lol cap and sam have bets placed, im 99% sure of it.


	5. Push and Pull

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> little do Bucky and Damon know, but there's other players in this little game of theirs.

Damon had to admit that she was confused. Because she wasn’t sure whether what her and Bucky were doing was harmless banter sort of flirting or ….

“Nah!” she muttered to herself, and went back to people watching, occasionally glancing his way, and quickly shifting her eyes away as to not get caught looking. The rest of the day went by just like that, stolen glances, lots of lower lip chewing, and overthinking about what the fuck does it all mean? Because this was recent. Sure, they had joked about her being a rookie a lot, and Nat and Bucky did like to pull pranks on her occasionally, and even tease her a little bit about her height, but this charged whatever, it was getting under her skin. She even grudgingly knew that she had kind of started it, but she was just trying to put on a brave face and sound confident, even she couldn’t have seen it become this slow and torturous back and forth between them.

“Maybe I am overthinking it, maybe it’s just a level up in teasing.” She wondered out loud, “they are master assassins and manipulators after all” she finished the thought in her mind. And she seemed to be a little more at ease, because that sounded logical. Bucky was just messing with her head, to use it later during their sessions. Yep. Nothing more, nothing less. She nodded to herself with a satisfied smile.

A few feet away from her, Sam was gripping the bridge of his nose in exasperation, softly shaking his head. “She’s rationalizing it.” He muttered, sounding like he’s absolutely done with this shit. “It’s clearly written on her face. See this is why I hate braniacs, they always gotta overthink everything, never let just feelings take control.” He let out in a quick burst of words filled with agitation.

Steve just looked at him with his eyebrows raised, wondering why Sam was so invested. Before he could voice the question, Sam anticipated it and answered, “I just don’t want it to end before I even get a chance to give either of them any shit about it.” And when Steve didn’t look so impressed with that answer, Sam looked at his pointedly, “That’s all!” and hoped that Cap would drop it. Which he did, but added after taking a minute to collect his thoughts, “Don’t forget that Damon is still going under training. To her instinct and measured response are two separate things right now, it takes ages for us to be able to reconcile the two, and we still make mistakes. They need time.” He finished with a soft smile, and a brief glance at the rookie agent who now looked like ready to leave her little nook in the common area.

An idea popped into Steve’s head and he turned to Sam with a grin. “They need time, but it doesn’t mean we can’t have little bit of fun in the meantime?” Before Sam could ask what the hell the old man was on about, Steve hurried off to find Natasha. Curiosity told Sam to follow and he found Steve and Natasha conspiring in hushed whispers and giggles, fucking giggles, and the scheming ended with Natasha calling Steve an old gossipy lady. What the fuck?

A couple of minutes later, Nat was standing on top of the counter, calling for everyone’s attention, “Ey! Listen up! This is one of the very few times when most of us are here in New York at the same time! I say we have some fun!” She declared with a smirk. When heads started to nod and a few “whoo!’s” were heard from the now captivated audience, she called for the one man who could make this party happen, “Tony!” who replied with the classic, “Yes dear?” that made Nat roll her eyes a bit. “I know you know someone who’s place can ensure some privacy, because we…” she paused for emphasis, and let’s face it, drama, “are going clubbing tonight!”

In the other of the room, Damon’s eyes widened at the suggestion, and somehow found Bucky’s bright blue eyes staring right back at her. Both looked away just as quickly, but neither could ignore the sheer taste of possibility they both felt.

Bucky abruptly left the conversation he was having with the spider-kid and his friend on the phone about the mechanics of his arm for the 80th time since he’d met them in friendlier conditions, and pretty much ran towards Nat before he could lose her in the buzz that she had created in the room. Natasha saw him bee-lining towards and just gave him her best smile, “Buck! What’s up? You excited?” she wiggled her eyebrows at him, like she didn’t know what he was about to ask. Bucky just looked pointedly at her, his face devoid of any excitement at the moment, “What’s going on Natasha? You don’t do spontaneous.” He said as a matter of fact, his eyebrow slightly raised in expectation of an explanation. She just shrugged his insinuation off, “Sure I do! All the time!” she said, blatantly lying and knowing that he knew so as well, but continued, “Besides, even you can’t deny that it’d be fun! Maybe even some good kind of unexpected might happen! Relax!” She patted his shoulder, and before he could interrogate, or well try to interrogate her further, she melted in the crowd.

Bucky looked up, finally accepting this weird turn of events and his eyes just automatically found Damon who was making her way over to him, but seemed lost in thought, but pretty much jerked her head up when she sensed his eyes on him. Swallowing some 50 dozen butterflies, she soldiered on towards him, as Bucky was kind of standing in the entrance of the hallway that lead out of the common room. Both still aware of that moment, awkwardly stood there for a second; Bucky running his human hand through his hair, and Damon playing with the end of her braid. Bucky eyes roamed down to that sight, as he got this weird need to feel her hair after just having felt his, and compare? Purely analytical.

“Uh, didn’t know Natasha was the clubbing sort?” Damon said, breaking the awkward silence. That broke him out of his trance, and he looked at her with a soft smile tugging at his lips, “She’s not any sort that one can peg down.” He said with a fond look on his face. Damon liked that look, he usually got that look at the end of sessions when she’d done something impressive.

Emboldened by it, she continued, “So, you ready to tear up the dance floor?” she asked, her question accompanied by a little shimmy of her shoulders, at which Bucky’s eyebrows shot up, and a laugh escaped his lips. “I don’t dance the way people dance now,” he said with a slight shake of his head, but gave her an amused look, adding “but looks like you’re ready to show off some moves?”

Damon excitedly smiled and nodded at that, “I love to dance! It’s so freeing!” she added passionately, her eyes lit up. “Really?” Bucky goaded her further, loving this open energy coming from her. She looked up at him, lips pursed but a smile still dancing on the edges, “Really! And if you like, I could even teach you a thing or two about the way people dance now.” She raised an eyebrow in a challenge, her mind chiding her for going down this road again, but she couldn’t help it. It was so natural to joke with him, tease him, talk like it was just the two of them in a given moment.

And he gave back as good as he got, as he licked his lips, which uh what, and matched her raised eyebrow with his own, and said “Or maybe, I’ll end up teaching you a thing or two like always, rookie!”

And she has no idea where the surge of confidence came from, but stepped closer to him, the height difference making her look up at him almost through her lashes, and said, “You’re on Mr. Barnes.” She slowly stepped around him, not losing the distance between them, and without the glance back, continued on towards her room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :D some comments would be appreciated, lemme know if ya'll want more?


End file.
